Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Oh, and who 'certified' TVI Express?

David making "stick out my tongue" faceImage by Larry and Laura via Flickr
Some people are claiming that TVI Express has been "approved" by various consumer websites. Let's see what's at the bottoom of TVI Express website...

Thawte -- legitimate site, but all it certifies is that TVI Express uses valid SSL encryption. You can buy that for a website for $250. That doesn't say anything about the legitimacy of the business. Usefulness: D

Better Internet Bureau -- while it sounds impressive, BIB is a private company out of CANADA, and NOT affiliated in any way with Better Business Bureau. They claim to "approve" websites for inclusion, but there's a fee: $45. And there's no way to "validate" the display of this seal. There is no list at BIB's website to look up if the company is REALLY allowed to display the BIB seal. Usefulness: D


Spam-Free zone -- links right back to TVI Express's spam policy, which doesn't really mean anything.

Thus, there ARE NO true third-party endorsements that came from a trust-worthy source regarding TVI Express, despite outrageous claims by some.

P.S. Any one noticed that TVI Express's site is down?

P.P.S. Looks like it's up again.

P.P.P.S. If you read Terms of Service on TVI Express's Terms of Use, there's a bit of a bomb shell:

"Ownership of Site and Trademarks
TVI Services Limited, (the "Company" or "we") owns and maintains this site. You are hereby granted a limited, non-exclusive license to view the materials on this site..."

So what exactly IS this company called? TVI Express? Or TVI Services Ltd? This seems to fit the complaint that your payment actually goes to "TVI Services Ltd", not "TVI Express" or "Travel Ventures Intl." or variations.

Search of UKData shows that it's a company out of Surrey, UK, started in MARCH 2009.

https://www.ukdata.com/numbers/06844674.html

However, the address goes to "Fletcher Kennedy Limited", which is a firm that registers companies for other people. And guess where else they register companies? That's right, Cyprus.

And you still don't think TVI Express is shady?

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